Rubbing after an insulin injection?!

Nursing Students LPN-RN

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My current clinical instructor is now telling us to rub or massage after giving insulin. She made another student do this today. In postconference, myself, along with others, disagreed with this. Everything we've learned, all our books say not to do that, but she insists we do. My boyfriend is type 1, I think I would know about not rubbing it in! His mom is an RN, I called her at work and both she and her coworker said they never heard of that. So what are everyone else's thoughts? I will not do that, ever.

Specializes in MedSurg, peds, home health, Drs office.

You are NOT suppose to massage the site after an insulin injection...it can affect how fast the insulin is absorbed by the body. I don't know what to tell you about this problem because your instructor will probably insist that if you don't follow her direction that you are doing it incorrectly and possibly give you a low grade because of it. Perhaps you could collect information from several different sources that state to NOT massage and then submit them to her, maybe anonomously.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

here is an excerpt from webmd: insulin shots: how to administer an insulin injection

quickly pull the needle out. do not rub the injection site. you may or may not bleed after the injection. if you are bleeding, apply light pressure with the alcohol wipe. cover the injection site with a bandage if necessary.

I never rub after an injection. We were taught not to.

I think ALL must rub gently after injections especially infants. My child was given immunization and the nurse told not to rub and it turned to a hard swelling. For third immunisation i rubbed gently for about 30 seconds and it worked!!!! There is nothing wrong in doing it unless contraindicated.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
There is nothing wrong in doing it unless contraindicated.
This discussion pertains to insulin injections, which are not the same as vaccinations and immunizations.

Nurses are NOT to rub after administering insulin injections. We practice nursing according to evidence-based practice, which indicates that we do not rub after injecting people.

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